Hanna Nitrate Checker, Complicated accuracy

The long-awaited Hanna Nitrate Checker is finally here, its long been considered missing from Hanna's line-up of pocket checkers which are widely used by reef keepers and considered one of the most accurate forms of measurement on the market for hobbyists'.

This new Low Range Coloromiter is designed to measure NO3 in saltwater samples up to 5mg/L, for some hobbyist's this is a bit disappointing, in most cases we aim to keep our nitrate levels above this 5mg/L range and are often looking for numbers around 5-10 parts per million. However its possible with dilution to use this Hanna Nitrate Checker to much higher levels.

A Typical nitrate tester may only cost you around £8-20 but its accuracy is more along the lines of "Little, some or lots" of nitrate, and this is handy for everyday but doesn't reflect an accurate analysis of your aquarium water. The Hanna Checker gives you an accurate look at your aquarium parameters especially at the lower values which can be critical when dealing with issues like Dinos.

Performing a test with the Hanna Nitrate Checker can be quite time consuming especially the first time you use it as its a little more complicated than Hanna Checkers your possibly already familiar with. Once you get into the swing of using the test you should be able to get it down to a couple of minutes of preparation time (plus the 8 mins give or take that it takes the checker to read the sample).  Part of the process involves using a filtration chamber to remove partials from the sample to ensure accuracy which is a little different from other checkers that don't require this.

Using a checker like the Hanna Nitrate checker takes away some human error factors, the reading of the colour in your sample and comparing it against the colour chart of more traditional tests can result in varied numbers and different people or different environmental factors such as lighting can contribute to unreliable inaccurate tests. The Hanna Nitrate Checker removes these factors, and while it may be a little slower to perform a test its going to provide a much more accurate measurement of your aquarium water.